A recent report published by the New York-based hospital chain Mount Sinai has revealed that substances found in cooked meats could be associated with increased wheezing, a symptom of Asthma in children.
The research study published in Thorax, one of the world’s leading respiratory medicine journals points out that pro-inflammatory compounds called advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) could be seen as an early dietary risk factor that may have broad clinical and public health implications for the prevention of inflammatory airway disease.
The team of researchers in Mount Sinai found out that dietary habits built earlier in life may be connected to wheezing and potentially the future development of asthma.
The 3-year long study examined 4,388 children between 2 and 17 years old from 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an initiative of the US National Center for Health Statistics.
The initiative conducted several sets of interviews and physical examinations to evaluate the health and nutritional status of adults and children in America.
Meat and Asthma
The research team found that higher AGE intake was largely connected to increased odds of wheezing, importantly including wheezing that disrupted sleep and exercise, and that required prescription medication.
Higher consumption of non-seafood meats was associated with wheeze-disrupted sleep and wheezing that required prescription medication.
Sharing his comments about the revelations of the study, Prof. Jing Gennie Wang, lead author of the study responded that “We found that higher consumption of dietary AGEs, which are largely derived from intake of non-seafood meats, was associated with increased risk of wheezing in children, regardless of overall diet quality or an established diagnosis of asthma.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Sonali Bose, senior author of the study and Assistant Professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and Pediatrics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai observed that “Research identifying dietary factors that influence respiratory symptoms in children is important, as these risks are potentially modifiable and can help guide health recommendations. Our findings will hopefully inform future longitudinal studies to further investigate whether these specific dietary components play a role in childhood airways disease such as asthma.”
